Award-winning executive
Nicke Widyawati was born on December 25, 1967, in Tasikmalaya, West Java. She is the president director of state oil and gas company PT Pertamina. She studied at state high school SMAN 1 Tasikmalaya and then earned her bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) in 1991. Widyawati then took her master’s degree in Business Law at the Padjadjaran University and graduated in 2009.
She went through various executive positions since 2009. Before serving as president director, Widyawati worked as Pertamina’s Human Resource Director and has served as Director of Strategic Procurement 1 at state electricity company PT PLN. She became one of a handful of female leaders in the top echelons of Indonesia’s state-owned enterprises (BUMN).
She is the recipient of several awards, such as the Indonesian Women’s Award, Ministry of State-owned Companies (BUMN), 2013; Women’s Work of Female Grace 2013, Indonesia Asia Institute, 2013; 16th Most Powerful Women International, Fortune, 2018; 50th Most Powerful Women International, Fortune, 2021.
Men-dominated workplace
Having a career in the men-dominated workplace, she likes to wear bright and flashy clothes such as pink with monotonous colors and dress casually in a batik shirt, black pants and sneakers to make her look feminine and different from the rest. Widyawati also likes to collect various famous shoe brands.
Widyawati’s career in state-owned enterprises began in the construction, electricity to engineering sectors. She started her career in construction at PT Rekayasa Industri (Rekin), then she became the director of Business and then Vice President Corporate Strategy Unit (CSU). She then took up a position in banking at the age of 21 at Bank Duta, which she did during her studies.
Widyawati often works in the field, such as working at the Sriwijaya fertilizer project in South Sumatra. Then, she was assigned to Lhokseumawe, Aceh; Cilegon, West Java; and Malaysia. After a lot of experience, she then moved to PT Mega Eltra, a state-owned company engaged in electricity and technical equipment, and became the company’s president director.
In 2014, she became PLN’s Director of Strategic Procurement 1. In 2017, she returned to Pertamina. During her time at Pertamina, she became the director of Human Resources (HR) and concurrently acting Pertamina’s Director of Logistics, Supply Chain and Infrastructure. During her five-month tenure, she was appointed as the acting director of Pertamina.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo named Widyawati as President Director of Pertamina, a state-owned company with more than US$ 54.6 billion in annual revenue and around 32,000 employees around the globe.
Widyawati serves as Pertamina president director based on a Decree of the Minister of State-Owned Enterprises No. SK-97/MBU/04/2018, dated April 20, 2018, concerning the Dismissal and Appointment of Members of the Board of Directors of the Company PT Pertamina.
